interval, fix in my heart. I really question if at this time my lifewould not be in danger, if distance did not secure it. Boswell will findhis way to Streatham before he goes, and will detail this great affair.'_Piozzi Letters_, i. 216.[1143] In like manner he communicated to Sir William Forbes part of hisjournal from which he made the _Life of Johnson_. _Ante_, iii. 208.[1144] In justice both to Sir William Forbes, and myself, it is properto mention, that the papers which were submitted to his perusalcontained only an account of our Tour from the time that Dr. Johnson andI set out from Edinburgh (p. 58), and consequently did not contain theelogium on Sir William Forbes, (p. 24), which he never saw till thisbook appeared in print; nor did he even know, when he wrote the aboveletter, that this _Journal_ was to be published. BOSWELL. This note isnot in the first edition.[1145] _Hamlet_, act iii. sc. 1.[1146] Both _Nonpareil_ and _Bon Chretien_ are in Johnson's_Dictionary_; _Nonpareil_, is defined as _a kind of apple_, and _BonChretien_ as _a species of pear_.[1147] See _ante_, p. 311.[1148] See _ante_, iv. 9.[1149] 'Dryden's contemporaries, however they reverenced his genius,left his life unwritten; and nothing therefore can be known beyond whatcasual mention and uncertain tradition have supplied.' Johnson's_Works_, vii. 245. See _ante_, iii. 71.[1150]'Before great Agamemnon reign'dReign'd kings as great as he, and braveWhose huge ambition's now contain'dIn the small compass of a grave;In endless night they sleep, unwept, unknown,No bard had they to make all time their own.'FRANCIS. Horace, _Odes_, iv. 9. 25.[1151] Having found, on a revision of the first edition of this work,that, notwithstanding my best care, a few observations had escaped me,which arose from the instant impression, the publication of which mightperhaps be considered as passing the bounds of a strict decorum, Iimmediately ordered that they should be omitted in the subsequenteditions. I was pleased to find that they did not amount in the whole toa page. If any of the same kind are yet left, it is owing toinadvertence alone, no man being more unwilling to give pain to othersthan I am.A contemptible scribbler, of whom I have learned no more than that,after having disgraced and deserted the clerical character, he picks upin London a scanty livelihood by scurrilous lampoons under a feignedname, has impudently and falsely asserted that the passages omitted were_defamatory_, and that the omission was not voluntary, but compulsory.The last insinuation I took the trouble publickly to disprove; yet, likeone of Pope's dunces, he persevered in 'the lie o'erthrown.' [_Prologueto the Satires_, l. 350.] As to the charge of defamation, there is anobvious and certain mode of refuting it. Any person who thinks it worthwhile to compare one edition with the other, will find that the passagesomitted were not in the least degree of that nature, but exactly such asI have represented them in the former part of this note, the hastyeffusion of momentary feelings, which the delicacy of politeness shouldhave suppressed. BOSWELL. In the second edition this note ended at thefirst paragraph, the latter part being added in the third. For the 'fewobservations omitted' see _ante_, pp. 148, 381, 388.The 'contemptible scribbler' was, I believe, John Wolcot, better knownby his assumed name of Peter Pindar. He had been a clergyman. In his_Epistle to Boswell (Works_, i. 219), he says in reference to thepassages about Sir A. Macdonald (afterwards Lord Macdonald):--'A letterof severe remonstrance was sent to Mr. B., who, in consequence, omittedin the second edition of his _Journal_ what is so generally pleasing tothe public, viz., the scandalous passages relative to that nobleman.' Itwas in a letter to the _Gent. Mag._ 1786, p. 285, that Boswell'publickly disproved the insinuation' made 'in a late scurrilouspublication' that these passages 'were omitted in consequence of aletter from his Lordship. Nor was any application,' he continues, 'madeto me by the nobleman alluded to at any time to make any alteration inmy _Journal_.'[1152]'Nothing extenuateNor set down aught in malice.'_Othello_, act v. sc. 2.[1153] See _ante_, i. 189, note 2, 296, 297; and Johnson's _Works_, v.23.[1154] Of his two imitations Boswell means _The Vanity of Human Wishes_,of which one hundred lines were written in a day. _Ante_, i. 192,and ii. 15.[1155] Johnson, it should seem, did not allow that there was anypleasure in writing poetry. 'It has been said there is pleasure inwriting, particularly in writing verses. I allow you may have pleasurefrom writing after it is over, if you have written well; but you don'tgo willingly to it again.' _Ante_, iv. 219. What Johnson always soughtwas to sufficiently occupy the mind. So long as that was done, thatlabour would, I believe, seem to him the pleasanter which required theless thought.[1156] Nathan Bailey published his _English Dictionary_ in 1721.[1157]'Woolston, the scourge of scripture, mark with awe!And mighty Jacob, blunderbuss of law.'_The Dunciad_, first ed., bk. iii. l. 149. Giles Jacob published a _LawDictionary_ in 1729.[1158] _Ante_, p. 393.[1159] A writer in the _Gent. Mag._ 1786, p. 388, with some reasonsays:--'I heartily wish Mr. Boswell would get this Latin poem translated.'[1160] Boswell, briefly mentioning the tour which Johnson made to Walesin the year 1774 with Mr. and Mrs. Thrale, says:--'I do not find thathe kept any journal or notes of what he saw there' (_ante_, ii. 285). Ajournal had been kept however, which in 1816 was edited and published byMr. Duppa. Mrs. Piozzi, writing in October of that year, says that threeyears earlier she had been shewn the MS. by a Mr. White, and that it wasgenuine. 'The gentleman who possessed it seemed shy of letting me readthe whole, and did not, as it appeared, like being asked how it cameinto his hands.' Hayward's _Piozzi_, ii. 177. According to Mr. Croker(Croker's _Boswell_, p. 415) 'it was preserved by Johnson's servant,Barber. How it escaped Boswell's research is not known.' A fragment ofJohnson's _Annals_, also preserved by Barber, had in like manner neverbeen seen by Boswell; _ante_, i. 35, note 1. The editor of these_Annals_ says (Preface, p. v):--'Francis Barber, unwilling that all theMSS. of his illustrious master should be utterly lost, preserved theserelicks from the flames. By purchase from Barber's widow they came intothe possession of the editor.' It seems likely that Barber was afraid toown what he had done; though as he was the residuary legatee he was safefrom all consequences, unless the executors of the will who were to holdthe residue of the estate in trust for him had chosen to proceed againsthim. Mr. Duppa in editing this Journal received assistance from Mrs.Piozzi, 'who,' he says (Preface, p. xi), 'explained many facts whichcould not otherwise have been understood.' A passage in one of herletters dated Bath, Oct. 11, 1816, shows how unfriendly were therelations between her and her eldest daughter, Johnson's Queeny, who hadmarried Admiral Lord Keith. 'I am sadly afraid,' she writes, 'of LadyK.'s being displeased, and fancying I promoted this publication. Could Ihave caught her for a quarter-of-an-hour, I should have proved myinnocence, and might have shown her Duppa's letter; but she left neithernote, card, nor message, and when my servant ran to all the inns inchase of her, he learned that she had left the White Hart at twelveo'clock. Vexatious! but it can't be helped. I hope the pretty littlegirl my people saw with her will pay her more tender attention.' Threedays later she wrote:--'Johnson's _Diary_ is selling rapidly, though thecontents are _bien maigre_, I must confess. Mr. Duppa has politelysuppressed some sarcastic expressions about my family, the Cottons, whomwe visited at Combermere, and at Lleweney.' Hayward's _Piozzi_, ii.176-9. Mr. Croker in 1835 was able to make 'a collation of the originalMS., which has supplied many corrections and some omissions in Mr.Duppa's text.' Mr. Croker's text I have generally followed.[1161] 'When I went with Johnson to Lichfield, and came down tobreakfast at the inn, my dress did not please him, and he made me alterit entirely before he would stir a step with us about the town, sayingmost satirical things concerning the appearance I made in ariding-habit; and adding, "'Tis very strange that such eyes as yourscannot discern propriety of dress; if I had a sight only half as good, Ithink I should see to the centre."' Piozzi's _Anec_. p. 288.[1162] For Mrs. (Miss) Porter, Mrs. (Miss) Aston, Mr. Green, Mrs. Cobb,Mr. (Peter) Garrick, Miss Seward, and Dr. Taylor, see _ante_,ii. 462-473.[1163] Dr. Erasmus Darwin, the physiologist and poet, grandfather ofCharles Darwin. Mrs. Piozzi when at Florence wrote:--'I have no rosesequal to those at Lichfield, where on one tree I recollect countingeighty-four within my own reach; it grew against the house of Dr.Darwin.' Piozzi's _Journey_, i. 278.[1164] See _ante_, iii. 124, for mention of her father and brother.[1165] The verse in _Martial_ is:--'Defluat, et lento splendescat turbida limo.'In the common editions it has the number 45, and not 44. DUPPA.[1166] See _ante_, iii. 187.[1167] Johnson wrote on Nov. 27, 1772, 'I was yesterday at Chatsworth.They complimented me with playing the fountain and opening the cascade.But I am of my friend's opinion, that when one has seen the oceancascades are but little things.' _Piozzi Letters_, i.69.[1168] 'A water-work with a concealed spring, which, upon touching,spouted out streams from every bough of a willow-tree.' _PiozziMS_. CROKER.[1169] A race-horse, which attracted so much of Dr. Johnson's attention,that he said, 'of all the Duke's possessions, I like Atlas best.' DUPPA.[1170] For Johnson's last visit to Chatsworth, see _ante_, iv. 357, 367.[1171] 'From the Muses, Sir Thomas More bore away the first crown,Erasmus the second, and Micyllus has the third.' In the MS. Johnson hasintroduced [Greek: aeren] by the side of [Greek: eilen], DUPPA. 'JacquesMoltzer, en Latin Micyllus. Ce surnom lui fut donne le jour ou ilremplissait avec le plus grand succes le role de Micyllus dans _LeSonge_ de Lucien qui, arrange en drame, fut represente au college deFrancfort. Ne en 1503, mort en 1558.' _Nouv. Biog. Gen._ xxxv. 922.[1172] See _ante_, ii. 324, note I, and iii. 138.[1173] Mr. Gilpin was an undergraduate at Oxford. DUPPA.[1174] John Parker, of Brownsholme, in Lancashire [Browsholme, inYorkshire], Esq. DUPPA.[1175] Mrs. Piozzi 'rather thought' that this was _Capability Brown_[_ante_, iii. 400]. CROKER.[1176] Mr. Gell, of Hopton Hall, father of Sir William Gell, well knownfor his topography of Troy. DUPPA.[1177] See _ante_, iii. 160, for a visit paid by Johnson and Boswell toKedleston in 1777.[1178] See _ante_, iii. 164.[1179] The parish of Prestbury. DUPPA.[1180] At this time the seat of Sir Lynch Salusbury Cotton [Mrs.Thrale's relation], now, of Lord Combermere, his grandson, from whichplace he takes his title. DUPPA.[1181] Shavington Hall, in Shropshire. DUPPA.[1182] 'To guard. To adorn with lists, laces or ornamental borders.Obsolete.' Johnson's _Dictionary._[1183] Johnson wrote to Mrs. Thrale on Nov. 13, 1783:--'You seem tomention Lord Kilmurrey _(sic)_ as a stranger. We were at his house inCheshire [Shropshire].... Do not you remember how he rejoiced in having_no_ park? He could not disoblige his neighbours by sending them _no_venison.' _Piozzi Letters,_ ii. 326.[1184] This remark has reference to family conversation. Robert was theeldest son of Sir L.S. Cotton, and lived at Lleweney. DUPPA.[1185] _Paradise Lost,_ book xi. v. 642. DUPPA.[1186] See Mrs. Piozzi's _Synonymy_, i. 323, for an anecdote of thiswalk.[1187] Lleweney Hall was the residence of Robert Cotton, Esq., Mrs.Thrale's cousin german. Here Mr. and Mrs. Thrale and Dr. Johnson staidthree weeks. DUPPA. Mrs. Piozzi wrote in 1817:--'Poor old Lleweney Hall!pulled down after standing 1000 years in possession of the Salusburys.'Hayward's _Piozzi_, ii. 206.[1188] Johnson's name for Mrs. Thrale. _Ante,_ i. 494.[1189] Johnson wrote to Mrs. Thrale on Sept. 13, 1777:--'Boswell wantsto see Wales; but except the woods of Bachycraigh, what is there inWales? What that can fill the hunger of ignorance, or quench the thirstof curiosity?' _Piozzi Letters,_ i. 367. _Ante,_ iii. 134, note 1.[1190] Pennant gives a description of this house, in a tour he made intoNorth Wales in 1780:--'Not far from Dymerchion, lies half buried inwoods the singular house of Bach y Graig. It consists of a mansion ofthree sides, enclosing a square court. The first consists of a vast halland parlour: the rest of it rises into six wonderful stories, includingthe cupola; and forms from the second floor the figure of a pyramid: therooms are small and inconvenient. The bricks are admirable, and appearto have been made in Holland; and the model of the house was probablybrought from Flanders, where this kind of building is not unfrequent. Itwas built by Sir Richard Clough, an eminent merchant, in the reign ofQueen Elizabeth. The initials of his name are in iron on the front, withthe date 1567, and on the gateway 1569.' DUPPA.[1191] Bishop Shipley, whom Johnson described as _'knowing andconvertible' Ante,_ iv. 246. Johnson, in his _Dictionary_, says that_'conversable_ is sometimes written _conversible_, but improperly.'[1192] William Lloyd, Bishop of St. Asaph and afterwards of Worcester.He was one of the seven Bishops who were sent to the Tower in 1688. Hischaracter is drawn by Burnet, _History of His Own Time_, ed. 1818, i.210. It was he of whom Bishop Wilkins said that 'Lloyd had the mostlearning in ready cash of any he ever knew.' _Ante_, ii. 256, note 3.[1193] A curious account of Dodwell and 'the paradoxes after which heseemed to hunt' is given in Burnet, iv. 303. He was Camden Professor ofAncient History in the University of Oxford. 'It was about him thatWilliam III uttered those memorable words: "He has set his heart onbeing a martyr; and I have set mine on disappointing him."' Macaulay's_England_, ed. 1874, iv. 226. See Hearne in Leland's _Itin._, 3rd ed.v. 136.[1194] By Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, in 1579. DUPPA.[1195] See _ante_, iii. 357, and v. 42.[1196] Perhaps Johnson wrote _mere_.[1197] Humphry Llwyd was a native of Denbigh, and practised there as aphysician, and also represented the town in Parliament. He died 1568,aged 41. DUPPA.[1198] Mrs. Thrale's father. DUPPA.[1199] Cowper wrote a few years later in the first book of _The Task_,in his description of the grounds at Weston Underwood:--'Not distant far a length of colonnadeInvites us. Monument of ancient taste,Now scorned, but worthy of a better fate.Our fathers knew the value of a screenFrom sultry suns, and in their shaded walksAnd long-protracted bowers enjoyed at noonThe gloom and coolness of declining day.We bear our shades about us: self-deprivedOf other screen, the thin umbrella spread,And range an Indian waste without a tree.Thanks to Benevolus [A]--he spares me yetThese chestnuts ranged in corresponding lines,And though himself so polished still reprievesThe obsolete prolixity of shade.'[1200] Such a passage as this shews that Johnson was not so insensibleto nature as is often asserted. Mrs. Piozzi (_Anec._ p. 99) says:--'Mr.Thrale loved prospects, and was mortified that his friend could notenjoy the sight of those different dispositions of wood and water, hilland valley, that travelling through England and France affords a man.But when he wished to point them out to his companion: "Never heed suchnonsense," would he reply; "a blade of grass is always a blade of grass,whether in one country or another. Let us, if we _do_ talk, talk aboutsomething; men and women are my subjects of enquiry; let us see howthese differ from those we have left behind."' She adds (p. 265):--'Walking in a wood when it rained was, I think, the only rural image hepleased his fancy with; "for," says he, "after one has gathered theapples in an orchard, one wishes them well baked, and removed to aLondon eating-house for enjoyment."' See _ante_, pp. 132, note 1, 141,note 2, 333, note i, and 346, note i, for Johnson's descriptions ofscenery. Passages in his letters shew that he had some enjoyment ofcountry life. Thus he writes:--'I hope to see standing corn in some partof the earth this summer, but I shall hardly smell hay or suck cloverflowers.' _Piozzi Letters_, ii. 140. 'What I shall do next I know not;all my schemes of rural pleasure have been some way or otherdisappointed.' _Ib._ p. 372. 'I hope Mrs. ------ when she came to herfavourite place found her house dry, and her woods growing, and thebreeze whistling, and the birds singing, and her own heart dancing.'_Ib._ p. 401. In this very trip to Wales, after describing the high bankof a river 'shaded by gradual rows of trees,' he writes:--'The gloom,the stream, and the silence generate thoughtfulness.' _Post,_ p. 454.[A] Mr. Throckmorton the owner.[1201] In the MS. in Dr. Johnson's handwriting, he has first entered inhis diary, 'The old Clerk had great appearance of joy at seeing hisMistress, and foolishly said that he was now willing to die:' heafterwards wrote in a separate column, on the same leaf, under the headof _notes and omissions,_ 'He had a crown;' and then he appears to haveread over his diary at a future time, and interlined the paragraph withthe words 'only'--'given him by my Mistress,' which is written in ink ofa different colour. DUPPA. 'If Mr. Duppa,' wrote Mrs. Piozzi, 'does notsend me a copy of Johnson's _Diary,_ he is as shabby as it seems ourDoctor thought me, when I gave but a crown to the old clerk. The poorclerk had probably never seen a crown in his possession before. Thingswere very distant A.D. 1774 from what they are 1816.' Hayward's_Piozzi,_ ii. 178. Mrs. Piozzi writes as if Johnson's censure had beenpassed in 1816 and not in 1774.[1202] Mrs. Piozzi has the following MS. note on this:--'He said Iflattered the people to whose houses we went. I was saucy, and said Iwas obliged to be civil for two, meaning himself and me. He repliednobody would thank me for compliments they did not understand. AtGwaynynog _he_ was flattered, and was happy of course.' Hayward's_Piozzi,_ i. 75. Sept. 21, 1778. _Mrs. Thrale._ 'I remember, Sir, whenwe were travelling in Wales, how you called me to account for mycivility to the people. "Madam," you said, "let me have no more of thisidle commendation of nothing. Why is it that whatever you see, andwhoever you see, you are to be so indiscriminately lavish of praise?""Why I'll tell you, Sir," said I, "when I am with you, and Mr. Thrale,and Queeny [Miss Thrale], I am obliged to be civil for four."' Mme.D'Arblay's _Diary,_ i. 132. On June 11, 1775, he wrote to Mrs. Thralefrom Lichfield:--'Everybody remembers you all: you left a goodimpression behind you. I hope you will do the same at------. Do not makethem speeches. Unusual compliments, to which there is no stated andprescriptive answer, embarrass the feeble, who know not what to say, anddisgust the wise, who knowing them to be false suspect them to behypocritical.' _Piozzi Letters,_ i. 232. She records that he once saidto her:--'You think I love flattery, and so I do, but a little too muchalways disgusts me. That fellow Richardson [the novelist] on thecontrary could not be contented to sail quietly down the stream ofreputation, without longing to taste the froth from every stroke of theoar.' Piozzi's _Anec._ p. 184. See _ante_, iii. 293, for Johnson's